Originally Posted by
Dan333SP
You're overthinking it. If your goal is to ride 20 miles at an average speed of 24 mph, you only need to know your speed, not your power.. You'd do over/under interval training where you hold higher than 24 for increasing periods of time followed by recovery until you're able to hold 24 for about 50 minutes, which would get you to 20 miles.
Watts are irrelevant if your goal is a specific speed number. If your goal is to hold 300 watts for 20 miles, then yea, you'll need a power meter, but it sounds like that isn't your goal.
Well let's say the goal is 24mph for a 20 mile stretch. With a power meter I can take the bike out on flat lands on a day when it's not windy and find out how many watts it takes to maintain 24mph on my bike. If I am simply relying on speed, there are too many variables in play, such as headwind. If I'm in a headwind it will obviously take more watts to maintain 24mph. So a power meter helps you to train a lot smarter in that regard from what I see, holding 300 watts in a headwind, rather than blowing yourself up trying to maintain 24mph in a headwind makes more sense. For a distance rider being able to maintain constant power, rather than constant speed also makes more sense. I do wish there was a way to get real time power readings, without having to buy a power meter of course. Is there anything that will give me a ball park power reading real time during the ride, without getting a power meter? I have no desire to shell out 1k on a crankset with a power meter. I really don't like the 1 year warranty on something that costs $1k either. The P1 pedals, stages all only have a 1 year warranty. Seems a bit ridiculous to offer a 1 year warranty on such an expensive product. I would think offering at least a 3 year warranty is reasonable. In the end it's the bad warranty on these devices that has me questioning on whether to get one or not.